Calming Activities to Help Children During Meltdowns
Children at a primal age often become aggressive, anxious and edgy. Regulating these emotional responses takes a lot of effort from the parents as well as their teachers.
Our advice for young parents on their child’s meltdown is to use the below-mentioned calm-down techniques. It is important to regularly exercise these calming activities to get better results and happy children.
We suggest the following calming activities and measures to help your child be calmer.
Critical steps to take during a child’s meltdown
- Stay Calm- You can make the other person calm if you are not calm. Take a deep breath and think about how much you love your child. Then only, you will be able to know how your child needs to be treated.
- Water & Food- Give them water and ask them to wait for a tasty healthy snack. Making a quick tasty yet healthy snack for your kid is one of the calm-down techniques.
- Sensory- There are many sensory calming activities such as giving heavy work, Clay Moulding, Household Chores, Filling and Emptying, Mermaid pillows and Squeeze balls, etc.
- Connection- Make eye contact, help them breathe, avoid saying “Calm Down” at that moment, and lastly once they calm down, determine the root of the meltdown.
Calm Down Techniques in Yoga
Yoga is a great way to find peace and health at the same time. Everyone needs to practice daily exercise. There are various poses like ‘seated forward bend’, ‘garland pose’, ‘legs-up-the-wall’, ‘easy pose’, and much more to relax and meditate.
Listen to their Favourite Music
Studies have found that listening to music is one of the calming activities for children as well as adults. It helps to calm your nervous system and lower cortisol level, which ultimately leads to a happy and calm kid. There are certain types of sounds like the sound of rain, thunder, and nature, a little bit of jazz and classical music helps in relaxing your mind.
Take a Cool/Warm Bath
Sometimes the hot weather irritates children. Take them for a swim or just open a shower and let them enjoy a cool bath to calm them down. Whereas, you can add Epsom salt in warm water as a calm-down technique.
Quick and Easy Calm-down Techniques
- Breathe in your favourite scent
- Count your heartbeats
- Get wrapped up in a cosy blanket
- Draw and colour what your feelings look like
- Do animal walk
- Cuddle with your soft toy
- Play in the sand
- Visualize a Happy Place
- Go for a walk
- Play with your pet
Conclusion
Every child will differ in what their nervous system needs. Their preferences will also change from time to time. It is your connection with them that will help you identify their type of calm-down techniques.